The A52 autoroute is a 25.3 km long motorway in the Bouches du Rhone

departement In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

of southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The road links the

A8 autoroute The A8 autoroute, also known as La Provençale, is a -long highway in France that runs between Aix-en-Provence and the A7 to the Côte d'Azur. Route The A8 is an extension of the A7 starting to the west of Aix-en-Provence at La Fare-les-Olivi ...

with the

A50 autoroute 300px, right The A50 autoroute is a French motorway connecting Marseille to Toulon. The motorway is 65 km and has a mixture of 2x2 and 2x3 lanes that run through mountainous coastal terrain along the Mediterranean. As such, it has some relativ ...

and runs from a junction 1 km east of the Péage de La Barque on the A8 to near the town of

Aubagne Aubagne (, ''Aubanha'' in Occitan language, Occitan according to the classic norm or ''Aubagno'' according to the Mistralian norm) is a Commune in France, commune in the southern French Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In ...

where it meets the A50. It is a toll road except for the very southern stretch south of the Péage du Pont d'Etoile and is operated by

ESCOTA Vinci (corporately styled VINCI) is a French concessions and construction company founded in 1899 as Société Générale d'Enterprises. Its head office is in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris. Vinci is listed on Euronext's Paris stock ...

. Traffic information for the road is covered by

Radio Vinci Autoroutes Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

(FM107.7). It is a mixture of 2x2 and 2x3 lane road, with recent construction work to widen some of the 2x2 lane sections (2018). The A52 effectively provides a bypass of the city of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, enabling those travelling between

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

/ Hyeres and

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

to avoid travelling through the city. When travelling southbound from Aix-en-Provence to Toulon, one must take the exit slip after the Péage du Pont d'Etoile in order to remain on the A52. This anomaly is a result of the construction history of the motorway.

History of the A52

In 1962, an autoroute named the A52 was constructed between

and Auriol in order to offer a fast link part of the way between Marseille and

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. The southern section of the current road, then known as the East Motorway, was constructed and designated A52 in 1963, the original section subsequently to be known as the western end of the

and the A501. The A50 section between Marseille and what is now the A501 was extended eastwards to link up with the new A52 and onward in stages to

by 1975. The northern section of the A52 was subsequently constructed, joining up with the

creating both a link between Marseille and Nice on the one hand and between

and Toulon on the other. On the A8 at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, a ramp was constructed with a view to continuing what is now the A520 from Auriol to the A8 and linking Marseille to the A8 in the direction of Nice more directly by motorway. This idea was eventually abandoned in favour of a series of developments of the D560 and in view of the construction of the A57 autoroute which provides a similar link, albeit via Toulon. The original A52 was finally renumbered in 1982 with four different designations, only the section between the north of Aubagne and Roquevaire having kept its original number: A50 between Marseille and Aubagne, A501 north-west of Aubagne and A520 (designated first A53 then A521) to Auriol at the exit on the D560.

Junctions

*''Exchange A52-A8'' Junction with the A8 **Service Area: Peypin/de Baume de Marron *33 (''Pas de Trets'') Towns served: La Bouilladisse *''Exchange A52-A520'' Junction with A520 spur to D560 to Auriol and Brignoles **Péage de Pont de l'Etoile *34 (''Pont de l'Etoile'') Towns served: Aubagne *''Exchange A52-A501'' Junction with A501 spur to

*35 (''Aubagne-est'') Towns served: Aubagne *''Exchange A52-A50'' Junction with A50 (eastbound) to

References

External links

A52 Motorway in Saratlas
{{Autoroutes A52